New TI Software Defined Radio for Digital Audio Broadcasting DAB to Reduce Design Time and Overall Cost for Automobile Radio Manufacturers

ERLANGEN, Germany & LAS VEGAS — (BUSINESS WIRE) — April 12, 2010 — Fraunhofer IIS, the leading innovator of technologies for audio and multimedia systems, has been selected by Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) to provide its DAB/DAB+/T-DMB software solution for TI’s software defined radio (SDR) platform for the automotive industry.

TI’s Jacinto-based platform delivers a unique approach for the automotive market, implementing a worldwide radio design concept that allows a single design to be used with multiple radio standards around the world, reducing design time and cost.

Fraunhofer’s DAB receiver kit is licensed and optimized for TI’s Jacinto processor, which is based on an ARM + DSP architecture. The DAB receiver kit takes advantage of Jacinto’s C64x+™ DSP core to implement a software defined radio, specifically for the digital audio broadcasting standard DAB. The Jacinto-based platform delivers a unique approach for the automotive market, implementing a worldwide radio design concept that allows a single design to be used with multiple radio standards around the world, reducing design time and cost. In addition, as a software library, DAB can combine with other features required in automotive head units. Jacinto’s ARM + DSP core combination provides enough performance to efficiently execute SDR functions while leaving headroom for other differentiation.

“We are happy that TI selected our Fraunhofer DAB Receiver Kit for its Jacinto platform,” said Michael Schlicht, head of Department Integrated Digital Terminals of Fraunhofer IIS. “Fraunhofer optimized the Receiver Kit for TI’s platform in terms of memory and processing consumption. This flexibility and expertise allows Fraunhofer to lead the industry, offering complete systems and individual components for digital radio technology while delivering unsurpassed R&D services.”

Developed for high quality DAB radio reception and fully validated for the automotive and consumer market, the Fraunhofer DAB Receiver Kit is a reference design for efficient implementation of DAB, DAB+ or T-DMB radio receivers. The innovative software radio approach and flexible software options allow TI to efficiently enhance its radio platform with the full range of DAB/DAB+/T-DMB feature set. Fully compliant with ETSI EN300 401, the basic feature set includes baseband processing as well as high quality audio and data decoding. Optional features such as 5.1 MPEG Surround sound or conditional access are available on request.

“We selected Fraunhofer for this SDR reference design because of its well-known reputation in the automotive market and demonstrated leadership in design, integration and implementation of digital radio technologies,” said Matthew Watson, business unit manager, Digital Radio and Infotainment unit of Texas Instruments. “This technology expertise is complemented by Fraunhofer’s strong affiliations and connection in the WorldDMB community, allowing TI to better understand and meet our customers' needs."

Fraunhofer IIS is showcasing the Jacinto software defined radio at NAB 2010 in the Fraunhofer IIS Booth C1446, Central Hall in Las Vegas from April 12-14.

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About Fraunhofer IIS

Fraunhofer IIS, based in Erlangen, Germany, has been working in compressed audio and digital broadcasting technology for more than 20 years and remains a leading innovator of technologies for cutting-edge multimedia systems. Fraunhofer IIS is universally credited with the development of mp3 and co-development of AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) as well as technologies for the media world of tomorrow, including MPEG Surround and data services like Journaline. In addition Fraunhofer IIS is active in the area of standardization, overall broadcast system design, receiver core development, and OEM broadcast server equipment. The technologies developed at Fraunhofer IIS have established themselves globally in satellite-based and terrestrial broadcasting systems, such as Digital Radio Mondiale DRM, DAB Digital Radio, Digital Video Broadcasting DVB, WorldSpace and SiriusXM Satellite Radio.

Through the course of more than two decades, Fraunhofer IIS has licensed its audio codec software and application-specific customizations to at least 1,000 companies. Fraunhofer estimates that it has enabled more than 1 billion commercial products worldwide using its mp3, AAC and other media technologies.

The Fraunhofer IIS is part of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, based in Munich, Germany. Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is Europe’s largest applied research organization and is partly funded by the German government. With nearly 17,000 employees worldwide, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is composed of 59 Institutes conducting research in a broad range of research areas.

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